The mythic and faerie art of Beth Hansen-Buth is like a travel album featuring the denizens of the Otherworld. Faeries and Dragons, Gods, Goddesses and Spirits; you never know just who (or what) you may meet. An inspirational painter of faery and myth, she has emerged as one of today’s premier visionary artists. Working out of her studio in her 96 year old bungalow in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Beth’s work is increasingly sought out by collectors of visionary art from all over the world.
Featured in FATE Magazine as the Painter to the Faery Court, Beth’s visionary work has been published in Pentacle Magazine, Seventh House Publishing’s “Season’s of the Witch” calendars in 2003 and 2004, and she has done numerous illustrations for “Tales of the Unanticipated”, a speculative fiction small press publication.
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Beth does have a long connection with the Eye. When we first opened, she rented the upstairs room as her artist studio. In fact, Thraicie posed for a commission painting she did of the Goddess Lilith. She also happens to be the twin sister of Jane, one of the owners of the Eye. It is that connection which inspired us to carry art prints and even have a gallery of original works by local artists, Including Beth.
Art as a Life Path
Beth showed an early interest in art which was encouraged by her mother, who was an avid hobby painter, and at the age of seven she began painting in oils with her mother’s guidance. This early education as an oil painter was interrupted due to the passing of her mother in 1975. Beth continued to draw and occasionally paint throughout her childhood and teen years, the ease and portability of graphite pencil and sketchbook making that her favorite media for many years. Subjects often included animals and portraits, but when she started reading fantasy literature, dragons and hobbits started appearing in her sketchbook. Color called to her, though, and she began the long and arduous path of teaching herself oil painting. In the autumn of 2000 Beth studied Flemish/Dutch oil painting techniques in still life and portraiture in the studio of Jeff Hurinenko in St. Paul, Minnesota, which helped fine-tune her already award winning skills as a painter. Beth blends realism with romance in her oil paintings. Working in layers to achieve luminous skin tones and glowing light effects, she creates magical works inspired by faery lore and mythology.
In her own words
“Nothing inspires me more than time spent in nature. Feeling the wind in my hair and listening to the leaves rustling in the trees makes me long for my walking stick, and off I go on another journey of wonder and delight. There, I commune with the spirits of nature, great and small. When I get back to my studio, the themes that present themselves in my work are those of transformation and ethereal boundaries. Otherworldly characters such as faeries, mermaids, fauns, gods, goddesses and dryads cross over into our world, opening up new possibilities of thought and influence. I find additional insights from my studies of mythology and faery lore, and they find their way into my paintings enriching each with story.”
